President Joe Biden spoke with top US intelligence and defense officials on Friday to stress the importance of their work, but also said that recent news reports about US intelligence sharing with Ukraine have been counterproductive, according to two administration officials, NBC News reported.

On the phone with CIA Director William Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Biden's message was that such disclosures “distract from our objective,” one official said. The other official said Biden conveyed that the leaks should stop.

The CIA and the Office of the DNI declined to comment. The Pentagon and the National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.